Incinerator device



Aug. 22, 1967 J, F x ET AL INCINERATOR DEVICE Filed Nov. 9, 1 965 INVENTORS n Vrm m w Y i E WM N IKR E. \m a w T nm A we S Y 1M .mO F

em H0 United States Patent 3,336,884 INCINERATOR DEVICE Henry J. Fix, Bethel Park, Pa., Sumner Hampton, N.H., and Bernard Miller and Gerald E. McGinnis, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignors to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of of Pennsylvania Filed Nov. 9, 1965, Ser. No. 507,077 1 Claim. (Cl. 1108) K. Wiley, Jr.,

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE It is an object of the invention to dispose of the products of combustion of household trash by means easily and safely handled by the housewife. All oxidizable trash may be reduced to a clear and odorless gas with a minimum of ash and then stripped from the combustion chamber, cooled by dilution with fresh air, and exhausted at a temperature which does not constitute any kind of hazard nor require any special installation such as a ceramic stack. Ash and incompletely oxidized trash, comminuted tin cans and occasional small bottles, are transported from the combustion chamber and deposited in disposable containers in a manner similar to the modern vacuum cleaner arrangements so that this disposal of the ash becomes not more arduous to the housewife than other appliances with which she copes.

In accordance with the present invention a combustion chamber is surmounted by a trash bin and means are provided in the trash bin to compact the trash stuffed therein into an imporous plug whose bottom face constitutes a wall of the combustion chamber. Means are provided to induce and to maintain combustion of this bottom face of the compacted plug. What ash is produced falls away from the face and must be cooled and collected in some pit where it may be periodically removed. Means are herein provided to collect the falling ash and transport it to a location where it may be cooled and handled without discomfort. Accordingly, a duct intersecting a vertical funnel mouth beneath the combustion chamber is provided to carry a stream of air to intercept the falling ash and carry it away. In order to transport the largest and heaviest bits which experience has foretold may be expected, this stream of air must have a given velocity, but this velocity must drop as these bits reach a point where they are to be dropped. At this point therefor the mouth of a container, here shown as the mouth of a disposable bag, is provided whereby the ash is collected as the air stream slows down. Hence, the said duct is provided in the form of a venturi tube so that the velocity of the air stream is comparatively high where the ash drops in and becomes comparatively low where the ash being transported drops out into the said disposable bag. Thus, a feature of the invention is a variable speed air stream to sweep out the ash dropped from the combustion chamber with a high speed draft and to drop it further on from a reduced speed draft. The transported ash may be dropped in any sort of ash pit, but as shown herein a disposable bag is used since the ash as it reaches "ice this point has been cooled to the degree where it no longer constitutes a fire hazard. Thus the variable speed air stream besides acting as a means to transport the ash additionally acts to cool the discarded unconsumed trash.

A feature of the invention is a means to cool and transport the products of combustion to exhaust stations. The combustion of the bottom face of the imporous plug is at a very high temperature, but this hot spot, in a manner of speaking, is hidden away in the interior of the device and is, to the housewife, inaccessible so that the operation of the device neither presents a hazard nor a discomfort. Means are provided to pass cooling air through the device and to exahust such cooling air in a manner similar to the operation of other domestic appliances, such as clothes dryers. In accordance with the present invention the movement of this cooling air is employed to strip the combustion chamber of the products of combustion and to transport them past an ash pit Where all solid particles, such as ash, are dropped out and thence to an exhaust port where the gaseous products of combustion are diluted with the cooling air and discarded. In order to perform these operations the cooling air must be given a velocity at the combustion chamber stripping point suflicient to transport all the products of combustion and then slowed down when the temperature has been sufiiciently reduced to drop out the ash so that only the gaseous product is exhausted.

Another feature of the invention is an arrangement which may be described as a chain consisting of an exhaust from the combustion chamber, an ash pit and lastly an exhaust port with the ash pit located at an interme diate point along a cooling air duct serving this chain. The cooling air is controlled in its speed by the use of a venturi in order to first pick up the matter discharged or stripped from the combustion chamber and later to separate the ash from the gas as the .ash pit is reached.

Another feature of the invention is the arrangement, automatic in nature, for separating the products of combustion so that the solid particles are collected in an ash pit while the gaseous products are carried further onto an exhaust port.

Other features will appear hereinafter.

Reference is made to application Ser. No. 329,044, filed Dec. 9, 1963, by Franklin S. Malick, as a disclosure of features incorporated herein and that disclosure is added hereto and made a part hereof.

The drawings consist of a single sheet having a single figure in the form of a schematic diagram partly in cross section of one form of the construction of a device embodying the features of the present invention.

The incinerator device consists essentially of a combustion chamber 1, surmounted by a trash bin 2. The combustion chamber is fashioned of ceramic material 3, to have a funnel-shaped surface to halt the downward movement of trash 4 stuffed into the bin and compacted therein by an inflatable bag 5, inflated from some conventional source of compressed air 6 .a cover for the trash bin through which the air supply is entered into the bag 5 is clamped into place so that the trash bin is air tight. This compacted mass of trash 4 becomes imporous and its bottom face, which quickly becomes carbonized, acts as an arched wall of the combustion chamber. As this face under combustion is eroded and shrunken, the imporous plug of trash gradually moves downwardly and the burning face is thus maintained at this same level, which may be defined as the junction of the open top combustion chamber and the open bottom trash bin.

A firing chamber 8 is formed in the ceramic material 3 back of the funnel-shaped surface, against which the imporous plug lodges. An electrical resistance heater 9 in this firing chamber heats the air entered thereinto through 3 the duct 10 and supplied through the orifices 11 and 12 to the combustion chamber 1. This heated air will induce and maintain combustion of this bottom face of the imporous plug of trash 4.

A funnel mouth 13 is formed in the ceramic body of the device to provide means for stripping the products of combustion from the combustion chamber.

A feature of the present invention is a means for flowing cooling air past the lower termination of this funnel mouth 13, here shown as an inlet 14, and an exhaust vent 15 whereby the gaseous products of combustion from the combustion chamber are cooled and transported to the exhaust vent 15. Along this air stream and at a point intermediate between the lower termination of the funnel mouth 13 and the exhaust vent 15 is placed an ash separator 16 leading to a disposable bag 17 into which the ash 18 drops, and which may be periodically removed and replaced.

In accordance with the present invention the diameter of the air duct from the inlet 14 is narrowed at the intersection with the funnel mouth 13 and again widened out as the ash separator 16 is reached. This venturi tube, with its throat at mouth 13 thus provides means to move the cooling air swiftly past the funnel mouth to pick up and transport ash to the ash separator where the velocity of the diluted gas is so reduced that the ash will drop out and fall into the bag 17.

The movement of this cooling air may be controlled by a pump (not shown) to force air into the duct 14 or a suction pump (not shown) associated with the exhaust vent 15.

By the proper adjustment of the air flow into the duct 10 and that into the duct 14, the operation of the device may be so regulated that combustion will be completed in the combustion chamber and the gas flowing into and through the ash separator 16 will be cooled to the point where no hazard is presented to the premises or to the operator and the ash is completely dropped out and into the bag 17. The temperature of the exhaust reaching the vent 15 is so low that no hazard exists so that the device constitutes a household appliance and may be installed alongside other conventional appliances, such as washers and clothes dryers.

What is claimed is:

In an incinerator for reducing oxidizable material to a clear and odorless gas with a minimum of ash, an open top combustion chamber surmounted by an open bottom trash bin and having a funnel-shaped surface to halt the downward movement of trash at the junction of said combustion chamber and said trash bin, means in said trash bin for compacting trash stuffed in said bin to an imporous plug, the bottom face of said plug substantially constituting one wall of said combustion chamber, means for inducing and for maintaining combustion of said bottom face of said plug, a funnel mouth being constructed and arranged as a downward chute from said funnelshaped surface for receiving and disposing of the products of combustion of said bottom face of said imporous plug,

1 an ash separator fitted with a disposable bag for collectin-g ash, a duct for carrying forced air from the bottom of said chute to said ash separator for transporting and cooling said ash, and an exhaust vent beyond said ash separator for exhausting cooled gaseous products of combustion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,750,903 6/1956 Miller et al 110-165 3,289,618 12/1966 McGinnis 110-8 3,295,477 1/1967 McGinnis 1l08 JAMES W. WESTHAVER, Primary Examiner. 

